Tag Archives: summer

Sandra, over at Wild Daffodil, has a year-long photo challenge on “windows” and I thought I’d add a photo.

It includes street lamps and hallways. Can you tell what’s what?

Don’t faint. . . but yours truly actually got some sewing done the other day. Remember this cotton batik? Recognise a slight problem? Note the neck facing attached to the front facing which is almost twice as wide as it should be?? Hmmm. Needed some trimming.

Also note the slight excess of fabric (that fold) in the facing of the other side? Measurement showed a one inch difference in the width between the right and left sides. Somehow the whole neck and front facing thingey got very unaligned.

I decided to trim off that extra inch on the too wide side so it would match the other. Maybe that would take care of that extra fabric that was causing the fold.

So I decided it was time to make things right. Note those chalk lines? That’s where the serger evened things out.

Success! Evening out and matching both sides fixed the fold and aligned all the facings. Remaining is tacking those facings down and hemming.

🥴

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Really, how important are our clothes? What do they say about us? What are they saying to others? Could changing our clothes really change our lives??

If you didn’t see this on Hila’s blog , grab a cuppa, take a break and watch it now.

AUTUMN ! ! ! And just in time for any chilling winds, the crocheted hat & scarf are tasselled & done!

My wooly news from last week was finishing my green acrylic hat & scarf set. Yeah! And just about completing the 8th of my blankey rectangles. Many more to go. Also continuing to slow knit my autumnal scarf. (All my knitting is slow.)

The teal shorts continue to sit, whilst I decide what to do with a nice bit of leftover rayon…

this will make more sense after you’ve seen the last video – promise!

just another saturday
Having survived a side swipe from the latest hurricane, it was going to be regular Saturday laundry & maybe cooking a meat loaf. Plus doing a bit of sewing whilst listening to “Good Neighbors,” a 1970’s BBC series.

If you’d like a peek at the program, click here and here. Margo’s outfits are so 1970’s I’m putting together a small collection to be aired after I’ve finished watching the 3rd season.

But about that meat loaf. Remember the meat loaf??

About half way through the bake I went out to check it. As I put my hand on the stove top it almost raised a blister. Uh-oh. Something was wrong.

Seems the thermostat had baked it’s last bake and was registering its’ displeasure by refusing to turn off. Grr… Not an option.

Maintenance came to the rescue, and the dead thermostat was replaced once everything had cooled off.

The glass pan did scrub up fairly easily, and the meat loaf is edible, thank goodness!

But the meat loaf, once I got it out of the cooker, appeared to be more than done, registering well above the appropriate internal temp.

So while I didn’t get any sewing done, the meat loaf is edible. 😳

a life without booksis…Death in the Tunnel. Despite the fact of the train’s not “com(ing) to a screeching halt” in the middle of the 2½ mile tunnel, I found Miles Burton’s book both challenging and boring; however, the layers of detail kept me interested.

Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm, and taciturn, as reflected by the author’s prose style. I don’t know if I like this one or not. It’s currently feeling ominous. Maybe that’s intentional, and I’ve decided its’ not best to read it before bedtime!

Rather than leaving you with the image of burnt beef and an iffy thriller, here’s something many of us will find interesting. And it explains my hand in the middle of the teal fabric…

First, a dive into Muffin-land. After hurricane Flo visited, and slightly more normalcy appeared, the grocers seemed to be almost giving away berries.

I do love berries – strawberries, raspberries (my fav), blackberries (second fav) and all the rest, but I was receiving more than my greediness could eat. What to do . . . . .

I considered making jam, but lacking the accoutrement and experience, I demurred. Enter muffins, with a recipe for basic berry muffins (below). Ah! I’d much rather be baking than stirring a boiling pot.

the basic recipe, which I haven’t tried varying yet!

We’re not talking industrial-scale amounts, but for someone who hadn’t baked in four or five months, anything was major. Then a few low temp and humidity days magically appeared.

I started baking.

if you’ve never made muffins American-style, do read this carefully.

For those who might not realise, American store-bought muffins are more like sweet cake than a true muffin.

All muffin batter is lumpy because the flour is not mixed until it is lump-less.

If you don’t believe there’s a reason why, just try mixing a batch of these one way, and then the other. I know which ones will get binned!

It’s the chemistry/alchemy of the baking process, which I shan’t explain because I don’t know what it is!

make sure the flour and baking POWDER are thoroughly mixed

the berries ~ here are blackberries from yesterday’s batch ~ are loosly mashed and sugar added

this marge is melted even though one of the cubes is still holding its’ shape

everything gets dumped into the bowl at one time, otherwise you won’t get this mixed properly

Stirred about 15 times and DONE!!!

(I always use those little paper baking cups in my muffin pans because I hate scrubbing out the pan.)

LEAVE the floured bits – this IS mixed enough!!!

SEE?! they look fine after baking! That floury one on the bottom right? Just blow off any excess flour.

Here’s the one with the excess flour . There’s one bit that didn’t get coloured by berries over on the right. It’s normal & tasted great!

Have I convinced anyone to take a quick break and mix up a batch? (Before we go on, special thanks to taste-testers at h-t #136 & others. You know who you are!)

A large leftover bit of rayon from Vogue Fabric, Chicago, purchased at least 8 years ago!

This fabric has been on my cutting table for weeks because it kept telling me IT DID NOT WANT TO BE A SKIRT.

Oh. I finally listened, and realised how much more I’d wear some shorts, so the shorts pattern is now out and will fit after judicious finagling.

Sometimes, procrastination thinking is a good idea. Tereza, over at Sew for Me, just wrote an interesting post on that, amongst other things (including a look at some Brazilian fabrics).

Christmas crochet

Thanks to Sheila at Sewchet I spent last weekend, in-between batches of muffins, doing some more work towards Christmas.

Just yesterday I finished my latest adventure in the British Library’s Crime Classics. The Lake District Murder by John Bude kept me trying to solve the mystery and was definitely enjoyable!

The three books by Hay ( Death on the Cherwell & Murder Undergroundhere, The Santa Klaus Murderhere) were my intro to the series (known amongst aficionados as BLCC). Since then, I’ve branched out a bit, but only into books written with some humour.

click to go to book on the British Library site

A bit of escape via an entertaining book is part of my regime for staying (somewhat 😉) balanced.

There are limits to what I need in my wardrobe, which is something more and more of us are realising.

Some form of creativity, be it cooking or crochet, is a basic necessity. But more about those another time .

Like this:

doesn’t that look interesting? would you/could you guess that blue is the wrong side??

This pair of red shorts-that-aren’t-short has been periodically tossed into the naughty corner all summer long. Yesterday’s go at it had me yet again trying to get the pockets in.

Firstly, you must realise I’d already sewn up the side seams with basting stitches, and done rather more to the waist than I should have.

Translated that meant I was willing to take out the side seam basting, but not the waist. Not a good choice, as it turned out. But as I deal with heat & humidity induced attitudes toward any activity needing cogent thinking, am cutting meself a break.

I also needed decided to use a contrasting fabric for half each pocket. A decision ripe for disaster under such conditions . . . especially as I’d pieced the blue & white contrast.

Three times I fiddled with those pockets. Getting out the pocket directions and squinting to decipher fading markings on front versus back, checking and rechecking which fabric was where.

I was finally reminded of Hila’s mantra, “done is better than perfect.” That was after realising, yet again, that I’d gotten wrong side of contrasting pocket in wrong place. I’m going to try living with it for a bit.

However, I’ve only put in the one pocket. Hedging my bets? Final report anon . . . . .

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knitting
Have become fascinated with this autumn yarn as it slowly evolves into different colours.

sewing
The shorts-that-aren’t (short, that is) are cut out and might even have a seam or two sewn by the time you read this. Took a gamble with the top of the pocket bags and made them from blue cotton, left from last year’s shorts. Necessity was the mother of this, as there wasn’t quite enough of the red fabric. Using perennial fav B5432, with length added to use up the fabric.

i always mark fronts & backs to save confusion

Somewhere between photo program and WordPress I’ve photos of another cotton fabric cut out for a new toaster cover. (So mundane, but oh so looking forward to!) Whilst making up the bed just now realised the remainder of that fabric might make a nice little table cover… Never know when inspiration may strike!

nigella’s on our telly
We’re seeing Nigella Lawson’s latest series, At My Table, over here on our PBS stations. In last week’s episode (No. 4) she admitted – and showed herself using – her “sewing shears” to cut chives. Well! You should have seen the scissors – maybe 6 inches – and definitely not for fabric. A small needlepoint’s tangle of threads would be more like it.

Clearly, the lady needs a good session with Sewing Bee peeps. I can see it now, can’t you? Nigella Brings Biscuits to Bee!

latest British library crime classics
Just finished reading Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon, which was very pleasant indeed. As Martin Edwards wrote in the Introduction, “For all the chill of the Christmas-time snow… there are repeated clues to Farjeon’s amiable personality in the good humour that shines through from start to finish.”

“Welcome back to the loving family,” she exclaimed. “I haven’t quite (Farjeon’s emphasis) given up my idea of a happy Christmas, David, but Peace and Goodwill have got to get a move on!”

Christmas or no, wouldn’t more Peace and Goodwill be lovely right about now?

Am awaiting Hay’s last and some say best book, not quite in the mail it seems… Don’cha hate it when you see a notice saying “we’ve shipped your books,” and when you click to see the anticipated delivery date the books are still at the bookseller’s?!

Thanks to Sandra at Wild Daffodil for recommending this week’s 15-Minute Drama, “Ground Control.” Several surprises at the end, what?! (This is only available for a month, so listen now if you’re interested.)

other media
Friday’s Woman’s Hour (just before the Drama) included Aussie author Kathy Lette saying things like “women are each other’s human Wonder Bras—uplifting, supportive and making each other look bigger and better.” Must say I hadn’t made that connection . . . . .

Friday night was also the “current” (as in what’s finally made it across the Atlantic) episode of The Great British Bake Off.